Abstract
To estimate the effect of the solar variability on the climate, two estimates of the solar intensity variations during the last three centuries have been used as forcing in numerical simulations. The model employed to carry out the experiments was the same coupled global ocean-atmosphere model used in a number of studies to assess the effect of the anthropogenic greenhouse gases on climate. The near surface temperature and the tropospheric temperature distribution shows a clear response to the variability of the solar input. Even the thermohaline circulation reacts on the large amplitudes in the forcing. In the stratosphere, the response pattern is similar as in the observations, however, the 11-year cycle found in the forcing data does not excite an appreciable response. This might be due to the missing parameterisation of the increase in the UV-radiation at the solar cycle maximum and the connected increase of the stratospheric ozone concentration.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Arpe, K., Dümenil, L., and Giorgetta, M.A.: 1998, ‘Variability of the Indian monsoon in the ECHAM3 model-Sensitivity to sea surface temperature, soil moisture, and the stratospheric quasi-biennial oscillation’, J. Climate 11, 1,837–1,858.
Balachandran, N.K., and Rind, D.: 1995, ‘Modeling the effects of UV variability and the QBO on the troposphere-stratosphere system. Part I: The middle atmosphere’, J. Climate 8, 2,058–2,079.
Bertrand, C., van Ypersele, J.-P., and Berger, A.: 1999, ‘Volcanic and solar impacts on climate since 1700’, Climate Dynamics 15, 355–367.
Bertrand, C., and van Ypersele, J.-P.: 1999, ‘Potential role of solar variability as an agent for climate change’, Climatic Change, in press.
Crowley, T. J., and Kim, K.-Y.: 1993, ‘Towards development of a strategy for determining the origin of decadal-centennial scale climate variability’, Quat. Sci. Rev. 12, 375–385.
Crowley, T. J., and Kim, K.-Y.: 1996, ‘Comparison of proxy records of climate change and solar forcing’, Geophys. Res. Lett. 23, 359–362.
Cubasch, U., Santer, B. D., Hellbach, A., Hegerl, G.C., Höck, H., Maier-Reimer, E., Mikolajewicz, U., Stössel, A., und Voss, R.: 1994, ‘Monte Carlo climate change forecasts with a global coupled ocean-atmosphere model’, Climate Dynamics 10, 1–19.
Cubasch, U., Hegerl, G., Hellbach, A., Höck, H., Mikolajewicz, U., Santer, B.D., and Voss, R.: 1995,’ A climate change simulation starting 1935’, Climate Dynamics 11, 71–84.
Cubasch, U., Hegerl, G. and Waszkewitz, J.: 1996, ‘Prediction, detection and regional assessment of anthropogenic climate change’, Geophysica 32, 77–96.
Cubasch, U., Hegerl, G.C., Voss, R., Waszkewitz, J., and Crowley, T. C.: 1997, ‘Simulation with an O-AGCM of the influence of variations of the solar constant on the global climate’, Climate Dynamics 13, 757–767.
Cubasch, U., Myles, A., Beniston, M., Bertrand, C., Brinkop, S., Caneill, J.-Y., Dufresne, J.-L., Fairhead, L., Filiberti, M.-A., Gregory, J., Hegerl, G., Hoffmann, G., Johns, T., Jones, G., Laurent, C., McDonald, R., Mitchell, J., Parker, D., Oberhuber, J., Poncin, C., Sausen, R., Schlese, U., Stott, P., Tett, S., leTreut, H., Ulbrich, U., Valcke, S., Voss, R., Wild, M., and van Ypersele, J.-P.: 1999, ‘Simulation, diagnosis and detection of anthropogenic climate change’, in Final report of project ENV4-CT-0102, EU-DG XII, Brussels, Belgium.
DKRZ: 1993, ‘The ECHAM3 atmospheric general circulation model’, in Tech. Rep. No. 6, DKRZ, Bundesstr 55, Hamburg, Germany.
Drijfhout, S. S., Haarsma, R. J., Opsteegh, J.D., and Selten, F. M.: 1999, ‘Solar-induced versus internal variability in a coupled climate model’, Geophys. Res. Lett. 26 205–208.
Friis-Christensen, E., and Lassen, K.: 1991, ‘Length of the solar cycle: An indicator of solar activity closely associated with climate’, Science 254, 698–700.
Fröhlich, C., and Lean, J.: 1998, ‘The sun's total irradiance cycles, Trends and related climate change uncertainties since 1976’, Geophys. Res. Lett. 25, 4,377–4,380.
Giorgetta, M.A. and Bengtsson, L.: 1999, ‘The potential role of the quasi-biennial oscillation in the stratosphere-troposphere exchange as found in water vapour in general circulation model experiments’, J. Geophys. Res. 104, 6,003–6,019.
Haigh, J. D.: 1996, ‘The impact of solar variability on climate’, Science 272, 981–984.
Haigh, J. D.: 1999a, ‘Modelling the impact of solar variability on climate’, Journ. of Atmos. and Solar-Terr. Phys. 61, 63–72.
Haigh, J.D.: 1999b, ‘A GCM study of climate change in response to the 11-year solar cycle’, Q.J.R.M.S. 125, 871–892.
Hegerl, G. C., Hasselmann, K., Cubasch, U., Mitchell, J. F.B., Roeckner, E., Voss, R., und Waszkewitz, J.: 1997, ‘Multi-fingerprint detection and attribution analysis of greenhouse gas, greenhouse gas-plus-aerosol and solar forced climate change’, Climate Dynamics 13, 613–634.
Hoyt, D.V., and Schatten, K.H.: 1993, ‘A discussion of plausible solar irradiance variations, 1700-1992’, J. Geophys. Res. 98, 18,895–18,906.
IPCC: 1996, in J. T. Houghton, L.G. Meira Filho, B.A. Callander, N. Harris, A. Kattenberg and K. Maskell (eds.), ‘Climate Change, 1995: The science of climate change’, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge.
Jones, P.D. and Briffa, K.R.: 1992, ‘Global surface air temperature variations during the twentieth century: Part 1, spatial, temporal and seasonal details’, The Holocene 2, 165–179.
Jones, P.D.: 1994, ‘Hemispheric surface air temperature variations: A reanalysis and an update to 1993’, J. Climate 7, 1,794–1,802.
Kalnay, E., Kanamitsu, M., Kistler, R., Collins, W., Deaven, D., Gandin, L., Iredell, M., Saha, S., White, G., Woollen, J., Zhu, Y., Chelliah, M., Ebisusaki, W., Higgins, W., Janowiak, J., Mo, K.C., Ropelewski, C., Wang, J., Leetma, A., Reynolds, R., Jenne, R., and Joseph, D.: 1996, ‘The NCEP/NCAR 40-year re-analysis project’, Bull. Am. Met. Soc. 77, 437–471.
Kelly, P.M. and Wigley, T.M. L.: 1992, ‘Solar cycle length, greenhouse forcing and global climate’, Nature 360, 328–330.
Labitzke, K., and van Loon, H.: 1997, ‘The signal of the 11-year sunspot cycle in the upper troposphere-lower stratosphere’, Space Sci. Rev. 80, 393–410.
van Loon, H., and Labitzke, K.: 1998, ‘The global range of the stratospheric decadal wave. Part I: Its association with the sunspot cycle in summer and in the annual mean, and with the troposphere’, J. Climate 11, 1529–1537.
van Loon, H., and Labitzke, K.: 1999, ‘The signal of the 11-year solar cycle in the global stratosphere’, Journ. of Atmos. and Solar-Terr. Physics 61, 53–61.
van Loon, H., and Labitzke, K.: 1999, ‘The influence of the 11-year solar cycle on the stratosphere below 30 km: a review’, Space Sci. Rev., this volume.
Lean, J., Beer, J., and Bradley, R.: 1995a, ‘Reconstruction of solar irradiance since 1610: Implications for climate change’., Geophys. Res. Lett. 22, 3,195–3,198.
Lean, J., White, O. R., and Skumanich, A.: 1995b, ‘On the ultraviolet spectral irradiance during the Maunder Minimum’, Glob. Biochem. Cycles 9, 171–172.
Lean, J.: 1997, ‘The sun's variable radiation and its relevance to earth’, Annu. Rev. Astron. Astrophys. 35, 33–67.
Lean, J., and Rind, D.: 1998, ‘Climate forcing by changing solar radiation’, J. Clim. 11, 3,069–3,093.
Maier-Reimer, E., Mikolajewicz, U., and Hasselmann, K.: 1993, ‘Mean circulation of the Hamburg LSG OGCN and its sensitivity to the thermohaline surface forcing’, J. Phys. Oceano. 23, 731–751.
Manabe, S., Stouffer, R. J., Spelmann, M. J., and Bryan K.: 1991, ‘Transient responses of a coupled ocean-atmosphere model to gradual changes of atmospheric CO2: I Annual mean response’, J. Climate 4, 785–818.
Mann, M. E., Bradley, R. S., and Hughes, M.K.: 1998, ‘Global scale temperature patterns and climate forcing over the past six centuries’, Nature 392, 779–787.
Paeth, H., Hense, A., Glowienka-Hense, R., Voss, R., and Cubasch, U.: 1999, ‘The North Atlantic Oscillation as an indicator for greenhouse-gas induced climate change’, Climate Dynamics 15, 953–960.
Parker, D. E., Jones, P. D., Folland, C. K., and Bevan, A.: 1994, ‘Interdecadal changes of surface temperature since the late nineteenth century’, J. Geophys. Res. 99, 14,373–14,399.
Rahmstorf, S.: 1999, ‘Shifting seas in the greenhouse’, Nature 399, 523–524.
Reid, G.C.: 1991, ‘Solar irradiance variations and the global sea surface temperature record’, J. Geophys. Res. 96, 2,835–2,844.
Rind, D., and Overpeck, J.: 1993, ‘Hypothesized causes of decade-to-century scale climate variability: Climate model results’, Quat. Sci. Rev. 12, 357–374.
Rind, D. and N.K. Balachandran: 1995, ‘Modeling the effects of UV-variability and the QBO on the troposphere-stratosphere system. Part II: The troposphere’, J. Climate 8, 2,080–2,095.
Roeckner, E., Arpe, K., Bengtsson, L., Brinkop, S., Dömenil, L., Esch, M., Kirk, E., Lunkeit, F., Ponater, M., Rockel, B., Sausen, R., Schlese, U., Schubert, S., and Windelband, M.: 1992, ‘Simulation of the present-day climate with the ECHAM model: Impact of model physics and resolution’. Report No. 93, Max-Planck-Institut für Meteorologie, Bundesstr. 55, Hamburg, Germany.
Shindell, D. T., Rind, D., Balachandran, N., Lean, J., and Lonergan, P.: 1999, ‘Solar cycle variability, ozone and climate’, Science 284, 305–308.
Spelman, M. J., and Manabe, S.: 1984, ‘Influence of oceanic heat transport upon the sensitivity of a model climate’, J. Geophys. Res. 89, 571–586.
Stouffer, R. J., Manabe, S., and Vinnikov, K.Y.: 1994, ‘Model assessment of the role of natural variability in recent global warming’, Nature 367, 634–636.
Stouffer, R. J., Hegerl, G.C., and Tett, S. F.: 1999, ‘A comparison of surface air temperature variability found in three 1000-year coupled ocean-atmosphere model integrations’, J. Climate 13, 513–537.
Tett, S. F.B., Stott, P.A., Allen, M. R., Ingram, W. J., and Mitchell, J. F.B.: 1999, ‘Causes of twentieth-century temperature change near the Earth's surface’, Nature 399, 569–572.
Voss, R., Sausen, R., and Cubasch, U.: 1998, ‘Periodically synchronously coupled integrations with the atmosphere-ocean general circulation model ECHAM3/LSG’, Climate Dynamics 14, 249–266.
Voss, R., and Cubasch, U.: 2000, ‘Climate response to variations of the solar irradiance since 1700 in coupled OAGCM simulations’, J. Atmos. and Solar-Terr. Phys., submitted.
Wetherald, R. T., and Manabe, S.: 1975, ‘The effects of changing the solar constant on the climate of a general circulation model’, J. Atmos. Sci. 32, 2,044–2,059.
White, W.B., Lean, J., Cayan, D.R., and Dettinger, M. D.: 1997, ‘Response of global upper ocean temperature to changing solar irradiance’, J. Geophys. Res. 102, 3,255–3,266.
Wigley, T.M. L., and Kelly, P.M.: 1990, ‘Holocene climate change, 14C wiggles and verification in solar irradiance’, Phil. Trans. Roy. Soc. (London) A330, 547–560.
Wigley, T.M. L., and Raper, S.C.B.: 1990, ‘Climatic change due to solar irradiance changes’, Geophys. Res. Lett. 17, 2,169–2,172.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Cubasch, U., Voss, R. The Influence of Total Solar Irradiance on Climate. Space Science Reviews 94, 185–198 (2000). https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1026719322987
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1026719322987